On
July 20, 2008, the Municipality of Cuggiono has awarded honorary
citizenship to Mark Spezia in recognition of his attachment to his
Cuggionese roots and the affection for its community that he continues to
stimulate among the descendants of Cuggionese migrants to the United
States of America.

Mark
Louis Spezia was born in Detroit, Michigan on 18 November 1953 to Louis
Cesare and Mary Julia Spezia. He has lived and studied in Michigan and in
California obtaining his Bachelor of Science in 1980 and his master in US
Public Administration in 1989.

He
held several positions in the American army, air force and coast guard
from 1972 till 1998 as a pilot, helicopter and aircraft instructor also in
foreign missions and reached the rank of Major.

He
has been a New York – based captain of Delta Airlines since 1998, often
flying into Malpensa.

Mark,
proud of his Cuggionese roots, took advantage of these flights and during
the winter of the year 2000 every Saturday morning he wandered around the
paths of the cemetery of Cuggiono with a backpack on his shoulder and
stopping people asking them, in English, information about the Spezia
family whose tombs he photographed.

He
even left a message on one of them hoping that somebody would pick it up
and answer him. Mark’s research proved effective, as reported by
"Il Corriere della Sera" and other local papers, in the Spring
of 2001, when he e-mailed the Museo Storico Civico Cuggionese :

"I
am trying to reconstruct the history of my family : my grandfather
Giovanni Spezia was born in Cuggiono in 1889, migrated to Detroit in 1905
and was reached by my grandmother Maria Cucchi in 1914.

They
got married in America and had three children : Baldassarre, Louis ( my
father) and Catherine. I often travel on business and I have visited
Cuggiono several times : People are friendly, but I don’t speak Italian
and I have not been able to learn much. However, I have been, and still am
happy to walk the streets that my grandfather walked as a child".

A
surviving cousin of his grandfather, Caterina Spezia Nebuloni, has been
tracked down with the help of the people of the Museo. Mark has happily
met with her in 2001.

This
began a growing collaboration between the friends of the Museo and the
grandsons and great-grandsons of Cuggionese migrants who inquired and
still inquire about their forefathers. A diligent researcher and family
tree maker with his friends of the Museo in the parish archives of
Cuggiono, he has emphasized this activity and given prestige to our town.

A
great admirer of Cuggiono and the Cuggionese, he carried out extensive
research at different stages and has compiled an interesting and well
structured CD about our community with information of all kind and hundred
photographs. When people planning to visit Cuggiono contact him in the
USA, he supplies data and suggestions by sending the CD free of charge.

Travelling
from Maine to Missouri, Michigan and Illinois he often assists the
Cuggionese, like the group of May 2005, who are visiting St. Louis,
Detroit and Herrin.

He
is married to Mary Kathleen ( Walsh) of St. Louis, Missouri and lives in
Eliot, Maine where his four children attend local schools : John Louis (
born in 1991), Sarah Margaret ( 1993), Anne Marie ( 1997) and Paul Robert
( 2000).

He
has enhanced the prestige of our community and contributed to stimulate in
every possible way the desire in the descendents of our migrants to know
more about it and visit us, to reconnect and rediscover old almost
forgotten relationships.

The
municipality of Cuggiono is honored to register Mark Louis Spezia among
its citizens.